With the launch of applications for Apple's iPhone and RIM's BlackBerry, news organization Thomson Reuters has fulfilled business professionals' demand for smartphone support.

Thomson Reuters has launched a new mobile application on the Apple App Store and a new mobile application for BlackBerry smartphones to better serve its audience of global, on-the-go business professionals. As part of its commitment to multimedia, the organization has been investing in the mobile space since the late 1990s, experimenting with product development and monetization models.

"This is part of an ongoing investment that Thomson Reuters is making into multimedia and exploring different ways of touching people," said Chris Ahearn, president of media for Thomson Reuters, New York.

"We've played around with SMS, WAP services, etcetera, and we felt the time was right to launch native applications, because both platforms are getting enough traction and enough demand from our audience," he said.

"These launches are an ongoing part of a billion dollar investment we've been making over the course of the last year."

Thomson Reuters combines industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, scientific, healthcare and media markets.

Because Reuters is going after business professionals, the increasing adoption of both BlackBerry and iPhone among the business/enterprise segment compelled Reuters to follow the lead of competitors such as Bloomberg and the Associated Press, both of which have launched smartphone apps.

"The audience that the firm speaks to, professionals, are extremely demanding about where and when they can get their information, and clearly mobile has been part of that equation," Mr. Ahearn said. "We're increasingly seeing mobile platforms and networks deliver more targeted, higher-value information than in the past, and our products need to be wherever our clients are."

Handmark helped Thomson Reuters develop the BlackBerry app, while Reuters created the iPhone app in-house.

Apple of Reuters' eye
The Reuters app for iPhone and iPod touch lets consumers pull from Thomson Reuters' multimedia content, including the latest breaking news, updated stream of photographs, video coverage, financial charting, customized market data and company profiles.

The app was designed to leverage many of the unique capabilities of the iPhone and iPod touch for a better user experience.

Designed with a professional commuter audience in mind, the app also allows offline browsing.

The application is currently available for free from Apple's App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at http://reuters.com/iphone.

Reuters on BlackBerry
The new application for BlackBerry smartphones also pulls from Thomson Reuters multimedia content, including customized business news, photography optimized for the mobile device, market data by region, company profiles and personalized stock tabs.

Like its iPhone cousin, the BlackBerry application caters to commuters by allowing offline browsing.

The application is currently available in the English language for the U.S., Britain, Canada and India.

Consumers can download this free application at http://reuters.com/bb. It will also soon be available for download on BlackBerry App World.

Both applications are free to user at this juncture and are being monetized via ad-support. Thomson Reuters has plans to introduce a premium subscription-based service down the road.

"We are working closely with Apple and RIM, and co-marketing opportunities will help us get the word out," Mr. Ahearn said. "Apple and RIM are both good co-marketing partners, Reuters.com touches 30 million people and we're also engaging in viral marketing via Twitter."